I feel my face redden. “Do you...like to travel? Read? Watch movies?”
“What do you like to do?”
“I like going to Andre’s basketball games. When Mo was alive, I loved hanging out in the backyard whenever he fired up the grill. I think I might like to travel someday. Maybe see what pho tastes like in Vietnam.”
“Hope you guys didn’t want any of the Jell-o shots,” Eric calls to us, “’Cause we finished ‘em all.”
Sierra tosses her hair and giggles. “Let’s do the hot tub. But I’m going to need something cold to drink. You got any expensive beer?”
Eric grabs bottles from the fridge, and the two of them stumble toward the patio doors.
“You must read,” I say to Tony. “You knew about Fifty Shades Darker. What else do you like to read? For fun.”
It intrigues me that he reads and makes him seem less...criminal. My impression of men is that they don’t read that much, and if they do, it’s usually the Wall Street Journal or Sports Illustrated.
Tony leans across the table and aims for the yellow ball. “I do not have many hours for pleasure reading these days, but when I was younger, I read Arsan, Réage, and de Sade.”
I don’t know the first two names, but I shouldn’t be surprised by the last one.
“Are they any good?” I ask.
Tony steps up to me, invading my space. He has that look in his eyes, and I wonder if I’m in trouble. “Only read de Sade if you’re ready to see the darker side of humanity. Or your own.”
“I guess I’ll stick to Fifty Shades. For now.”
He cups my jaw and draws me to him, his gaze searing mine. “Bad enough you crossed my path.”
My heart beats twice as fast as before.
Run away.
But part of me wants to be even closer to him. I don’t understand why I’m drawn to someone that unsettles me as much as he does.
Abruptly, he releases my jaw. “Your turn.”
Too rattled, I fail to pocket a red ball.
He runs the table till there’s only a red ball and a black ball left. Sierra comes in, still in her underwear but dripping wet from being in the hot tub. She grabs two bottles of ale from the fridge before heading back outside.
I look at where the balls are, and if I can pocket the red ball, the black ball is sitting within easy shot of the corner pocket. I get the feeling Tony left the setup for me on purpose.
“You win regardless of whether I get these balls in or not,” I say.
The cue ball is in the center of the table, and I have to stretch my body to reach it. My breath catches when Tony leans over me, his mouth an inch from my ear.
“Then how about I give you an incentive?” he asks. “Pot the balls and you win. If I win, I get to spank you with the cue.”
I lose focus on the cue ball as I consider how heavy and hard the cue stick is. I don’t think it would feel good on my bottom at all.
“That’s okay,” I say with a shaky laugh.
“Virginia, you don’t have a choice.”
I was afraid of that. He moves away to give me space to make my shot. I stare hard at the cue ball. I visualize it going in. I need it to go in.
Drawing back the cue, I bring it forward, hitting the cue ball. After rolling about two feet, it hits the red ball.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX